For the first time in almost a decade, Google to give placements a miss at most IITs

"There was an internal decision taken by the company to go the offcampus route. Most of the IITs agreed to this. But Delhi and Bombay have different processes in place," said an IIT Delhi official.Prachi Verma | ET Bureau | November 09, 2016, 08:49 IST

NEW DELHI: When the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) start campus recruitments in a few weeks, Google will only attend those at Delhi and Bombay and give the rest a miss for the first time in about a decade. Not because it doesn't want to hire graduates from the others but the company is confident that its reputation as one of the world's top technology companies will be enough to draw applicants from India's premier engineering schools.

The move by Google to bypass the placement process at IITs in Kharagpur, Kanpur, Chennai, Guwahati and elsewhere clearly marks a break with tradition. It will directly hire any candidates it finds worthy without involving the schools. Such off-campus hiring is discouraged by the IITs but they didn't have much of an option when it came to Google, except for Delhi and Bombay.

"There was an internal decision taken by the company to go the off-campus route. Most of the IITs agreed to this. But Delhi and Bombay have different processes in place," said an IIT Delhi official.

An IIT Bombay official said, "We do not encourage off-campus placements."

The schools aren't too keen on companies hiring directly because it disrupts the process for everyone else. "Students cannot sail on two boats during placements," said the IIT Delhi official cited above.

People associated with IIT placement committees confirmed that Google had sought to be excluded from the campus placement process. Google declined to comment. "I am afraid our policies do not allow us to comment on campus/hiring outreach program," a spokesperson said by email.

The company has already started approaching students directly and vice versa, said placement committee insiders at various IITs.

McKinsey kicked off the trend last year by going completely off campus for its IIT recruitments during final placements. The management consultant hired about 10 IIT Delhi graduates through its alumni network, website and social media.

Google's salaries offers are among the highest — upwards of Rs 1-2 crore for international postings. And as befits its stature, the company has a rigorous hiring process. Last year, it hired about 20 candidates from the five older IITs (Delhi, Bombay, Kharagpur, Kanpur and Madras).

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